Roundabout Pre-School

Newsletter

May 2016

It is May already! As we thought it would, the final term of this academic year is flying by and the summer holidays will be here before we know it. We have lots to pack into this final term that I would like to tell you about.

One of the staff team’s priorities will be to ensure the smooth transition of our school leavers into their new settings. If your child is leaving us in July and you haven’t already done so, please let us know which school your child will be attending. This gives us the opportunity to talk with the children about the new experiences they will have in September, as well as allowing us to chase up setting/teacher visits if we do not hear from the school. During the final half term we will ensure that all parents play a key role in the writing of their final termly summaries/transition reports for school to ensure that we pass on as much knowledge of our children as possible. If you have any worries at all about your child’s transition into school then please don’t hesitate to come and have a chat with me – we all fully appreciate what an exciting, but some what heart-wrenching time it can be for parents and carers. We actively encourage teachers and other educational professionals to come and visit our children as often as they can, as well as facilitating children’s visits to their new school where possible.

Student Placement

We would like to welcome Kelly, a degree level student from Leeds Trinity. Kelly is currently studying for a degree in ‘Childhood Studies’ and will be with us until the end of this month. Kelly has already proved herself to be a valuable asset to the Roundabout team and we often find that the children respond extremely positively to a new/younger face! Kelly has undergone all of the expected safeguarding checks and training that all staff members have here at Roundabout before she began practising with us.

We would like to inform you that the Committee had decided on a wage increase for all our staff from April 2016 in line with the increase of the national minimum wage as set out by the government. The Committee recognises the importance of fair remuneration of the staff at Roundabout Pre-School. It aims to remunerate all employees in line with the national living wage set by the Living Wage Foundation by October 2016. Roundabout will also contribute towards staff pensions from September 2016 as part of the ‘automatic enrolment’ under the Pensions Act 2008.

Rental costs

The hourly rate for the rental of the portacabin was increased by Newlaithes Primary School or Leeds City Council respectively at the beginning of the year. The Committee decided to absorb the extra cost until the end of this academic year thus leaving the cost per session to our parents/ carers at £10.00.

Considering the increased running costs of Roundabout Pre-School, the Committee had to increase fees to £11.50 per session from September 2016.

Our Sponsored Brickbuild

This year we raised £615.50 through our sponsored brickbuild! Thank you very much to all of the families that supported us. The prize for the most money raised went to the Hardisty Family and they received a family photo session and a framed photograph with our photographer Karen Gavin! We plan to spend the money raised on replenishing resources within the room - I am sure you will have noticed that the room is a little sparse at the moment due to the loss of some of our shared resources with the previous Out of School Club. I will keep you posted on exactly how the money is spent.

Welly Alert!

Our new mud kitchen is up and running and is very, well, muddy!!! Please provide children with wellies wherever possible (they can be kept on the floor underneath your child’s peg), so that they can enjoy our outdoor messy play without worrying about their shoes. And please: don’t forget to write your child’s name in each welly!

Our Royal Tea Party

We are hoping to continue celebrations for the Queen’s 90th birthday with a series of outdoor lunch parties next week. Weather permitting, we will be decorating our new garden with bunting and flags and having lots of discussion about what the royal family means to us and our lives. It would be great fun if our children can come dressed patriotically in red, white and/or blue throughout the week – but please don’t feel the need to buy anything special for the occasion.

Prevent Duty Training

Some of you may already be familiar with the term ‘Prevent’, but for those of you who are not: Prevent is part of the Governments overall counter-terrorism strategy. The aim of Prevent is to reduce the threat to the UK from terrorism by stopping people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.

In response to the Department for Education’s ‘Prevent Duty’ document both Annie and myself attended ‘Safeguarding under the Common Inspection Framework, the Prevent Duty and British Values briefing for registered childcare providers’ delivered by the Leeds Childcare Consultant Team. This training was extremely informative and has enabled me to ensure that our safeguarding policies and procedures are both in place and effective in protecting all children within our setting. The training has also enabled me to reflect on how we promote fundamental British values as a setting. The values include democracy, rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance for those with different faiths and beliefs. The staff team will be receiving further training on both Prevent and Promoting British Values during the staff training day (5th May), but following reflection I do feel that these values are already ingrained within our everyday practice at Roundabout.

If you have any concerns or queries about the Prevent Duty training, then please do feel free to speak to any member of our staff team about it. The Prevent Duty document itself can be found on the Department for Education’s website.

Snack-time

Please could I remind all parents to make a weekly contribution to snack time whenever possible. At Roundabout we rely on snack donations from families to give to our children through the morning session. In recent times we are finding that the donations are dwindling a little! We would really appreciate it if you could remember to send something in, be it a piece of fruit or vegetable, a block of cheese, dried fruit or ambient goods such as crackers. Thank you very much!

Animal Week

Roundabout’s Animal Week was a huge success last month. I would personally like to thank all of the staff for going the extra mile to provide a really unique learning environment for all of the children throughout the week. I’m sure you can appreciate that it is not easy to get the room ready in the time that we have between Newlaithes’ Kids Club leaving and our session starting at 9am, but the staff repeatedly show such commitment and enthusiasm to our children’s learning that we somehow always manage to pull it off! Our visit from Noah’s Ark was so much fun, and the children embraced the experience – I hope you have managed to enjoy their experience through the photos and observations in their Learning Journals if you were not able to make it on the day. Thank you to all of those parents who were able to take the time to join in with some of the activities that were going on in the room, as well as creating some spectacular costumes with your children at home.

We hope to put on ‘Music Week’ at some point during the final half term of this year – so please have a think if you, or anyone you know, would be willing to come in and share some musical knowledge/experience with our children. The whole learning experience is vastly enriched by live demonstration, props or ‘experts’ coming into Roundabout. Speak with Kate, Carrie or your child’s key person if you can help.

Places for September

We do still have spaces available for September starters at Roundabout – please spread the word!!! If you know of any families who are looking for a pre-school place in September then please signpost them to our website (www.roundaboutpreschool.org.uk) or tell them to pop into the portacabin for a chat/visit.

Coming up… Horsforth Gala

The gala is held on Saturday, 25th June at Hall Park. Roundabout Pre-School will have a stand with a 2nd hand book sale, Tombola and face painting to promote our pre-school and raise funds for new toys and other equipment. At present we are collecting prizes for our tombola - anything you can donate to raise funds, for instance unwanted presents, gadgets, perfume, cosmetics, stationary, CDs, etc. would be welcome. Please donate only unopened, unused items. All items can be left at Roundabout before Friday, 24th June.

Donations of adult and child literature for the 2nd hand book sale can be left at Roundabout from 20th June 2016.

We will also need some volunteers on Saturday 25th June helping to set up the stall, selling items or get creative with face painting. Please consider giving us some of your time, even if it is only an hour. All money raised will be used to improve your child’s experience at Roundabout! A sign up sheet will be at Roundabout. Thank you.

Our Staff

Adele

I am Adele and I am manager at Roundabout. I am currently qualified as a level 5 in childcare and management, my previous experience of 24 years has always been in full day care.
Out of the setting I spend a lot of time with my family outdoors, a hobby of mine is doing cross stitch (needle work).

Carrie

I am Carrie and I am Assistant to the Pre-School Manager at Roundabout. I have one son.
I have worked at Roundabout for over twelve years.

Claire

My name is Claire, I am married with one teenage son. I love animals and I have adopted many! In my free time I like to travel.

Debbie

I am Debbie and I have worked at Roundabout for twelve years.
I have three children and a dog called Skye. I enjoy walking and going to the theatre and concerts.

Annie

My name is Annie. I have two beautiful children. I started at Roundabout in February 2014. I enjoy dancing and being daft.

Sarah

I am married and have two children.
I have worked at Roundabout since 1992.
Out of pre-school I like to bake and cook and watch my son play Rugby on a Sunday morning. I also enjoy knitting (but not very good at it).

Kay

I am Kay and I have a little girl at Roundabout. I have just successfully completed my Level 3 Cache Childcare Course. I enjoy baking, arts and crafts with my children and walking our dog.